This is a letter I received from the president of the NMA (the Nepal Mountaineering Association) on lobbying for the reduction of royalty fees in Nepal. If you agree with his request, please send him and the Ministry a supporting email.

dmiki

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Now the situation in Nepal is much improved and there are lots of enquiries and bookings. Already lots of tourists in the town. Mountaineering is looking better but we are still campaigning to reduce the Royalty fees of Nepalese Mountains to attract more mountaineers and climbers. Therefore I have been in talks with the Ministry of Tourism and the other related Ministries regarding the reduction of Mountaineering Royalties. With NMA's recommendation, Nepal Government formed a Royalty Revision Committee where I am active member. I am trying to pursue all Government officials to reduce the Royalty for all mountains. Because the Royalty fee of Nepal is much higher than China, Pakistan and India. Therefore I need international help and pressure on this issue. If I could have letters from our friends abroad, stating that the Royalty fee of Nepalese Mountains are too high compared to this region's countries and it needs reduction, it would give the campaign and reasoning a lot more weight. I would appreciate it if you could pass this message on to all the climbers and expedition organizers that you are in contact with. Please E-mail me at: Office@nepalmountaineering.org OR angtshering@asian-trekking.com and to Ministry of Tourism at: tourism@mail.com.np

Second that. India and China are no better though and also ridiculous. It's not just royalties that are often stupid, it's the compulsory services that need to be taken in conjunction with permits such as guides, liaison officers, etc that many low-key climbers such as myself don't need. If I could simply pay for my permit and that was it I might not be so bothered. You can actually do this in parts of Pakistan now (smaller peaks are totally free to climb), which is why I foresee me continuing to climb there. Increasingly people want to climb in a modern Alpine style but mountaineering red tape is often still completely geared towards big expedition style climbs. I think permits, liaison officers, etc, only detract people from climbing in the greater ranges and intimidates a lot of people with the bureaucracy. It also encourages a lot of others to skip the permits and climb illegally! Governments gain directly from permit fees but locals offering porter services, or with shops, lose out because of the decreased amount of climbers, which is wrong in my opinion.

Pakistan is the only nation which understand what it's all about.
If counting nations without 8000m peaks Kyrgyzstan also got the point. They dropped the permits alltogether and it's now very easy to go there and climb.

I think it's incredibly selfish to only think of our own pockets when doing climbs in developing countries. I suppost rules about the need to take a guide even though I've done many treks where they weren't actually needed.

I think it's important to contribute to the local economy where possible and by providing employment you're helping somebody to feed their family and usually for an amount which is relatively small for us.

Kali wrote:I think it's incredibly selfish to only think of our own pockets when doing climbs in developing countries. I suppost rules about the need to take a guide even though I've done many treks where they weren't actually needed.

I think it's important to contribute to the local economy where possible and by providing employment you're helping somebody to feed their family and usually for an amount which is relatively small for us.

...because we know how those climbing fees in Nepal and China are going to feed starving children.

You might want to note that the OP was passing on a request from the NMA and Ang Tshering Sherpa...people who actually DO contribute to the LOCAL economy at the base of these mountains.

- Liason Officer positions in Pakistan, Nepal and India are used as perks/rewards for military officers (in most, not all, cases) so there is a strong influence from the military to NOT drop this requirement.
- in this regard Pakistan needs commendation for dropping LO's to the (some really big) expedition peaks outside the Baltoro. This is a significant thing.
- Kali's post needs to be taken into account. We're rich people on holiday. Too many rich expeditions and climbers try to penny-pinch on every little thing, on amounts that are not much to us but a lot to the locals. This is a 'backpacker' mentality - expeditions are not a thrift competition.
- agencies are businesses. Most agencies pay porters/guides way below the rate you would pay if you hired them one-on-one on the ground. A small team going in privately and hiring on-the-spot will, whether they pay a govt peak fee or not, benefit any local economy more than going through an agency, which just helps make a city businessman richer. What price convenience ?